Assignment 5: The Executive Summary

Due Week 10 and worth 200 points

Preparation

Research any of following Websites as you prepare this assignment: Governmental Accounting Office, located at www.gao.gov , www.publicagenda.org: RAND Corporation, located at http://www.rand.org/; Policy Library, located at http://www.policylibrary.com/; American Enterprise Institute, located at http://www.aei.org; Cato Institute, located at http://www.cato.org; Economic Policy Institute, located at http://www.epi.org/; The Heritage Foundation, located at http://www.heritage.org; or other.

Scenario

Use the policy you selected from Assignment 2 (Demonstration Exercise 1 located at the end of Chapter 3) to research a published study related to your chosen area of focus. Then, prepare an Executive Summary with the criteria listed for this assignment. 

Write a five to six (5-6) page paper in which you:

(Note: Refer to Appendix 2: The Executive Summary for all criterions)

Establish the purpose(s) of the executive summary.

Provide the background to the issue.

Discuss the results of the research, identifying the models used to obtain the results.

Provide available federal data.

Discuss appropriate economic predictors.

Propose at least three (3) reliable, implementable recommendations.

Include at least two (2) peer-reviewed references (no more than five [5] years old) from material outside the textbook to support your views. Note: Appropriate peer-reviewed references include scholarly articles and governmental Websites. Do not use open source Websites such as Wikipedia, Sparknotes.com, Ask.com, and similar Websites are not acceptable resources.

Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:

Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.

Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

Recommend policy alternatives to deal with a specific problem.

Examine the nature, characteristics, models, and / or methods pertinent to the structuring of policy problems.

Analyze the goals, limitations, approaches, and techniques of forecasting.

Develop a policy analysis report

Use technology and information resources to research issues in policy analysis and program evaluation.

Write clearly and concisely about policy analysis and program evaluation using proper writing mechanics.